Plant haul: Hirt’s Garden + Grocery Outlet

Plant Haul

Oh, plant friends. My insatiable love for plants has been thoroughly satiated, suffice to say. It started with a few clicks online on the Hirt’s Garden site and ended with me jogging out of Grocery Outlet with an armful of Halo Top and new plants. I’ve got it bad for plant deals, what can I … Read more

A Short and Simple Guide to Rubber Plants

I am shocked by how many ficus plants I’ve owned, given my track record with them. I’ve had several plants in this genus: two ficus lyrata, a ficus benjamina, and of course, two ficus elastica. These are fig plants, but the edible common fig, ficus carica, isn’t your ideal houseplant — it really prefers being … Read more

Short and Simple Guide to Dieffenbachia 

Let’s talk about the dieffenbachia. For me, it’s the plant that I fall in love with over and over again whenever I look at it, but it’s also the plant that I tend to ignore. My dieffenbachia, also colloquially known as a dumb cane, has been slowly eking by over the past year, and while … Read more

Weekend Update: 8/29

Y’all, I have gone three weeks without acquiring new plants. Congratulations to me! I’m sure this will change once autumn makes my home more suitable to indoor plants, but for now, I’m appreciating any plant that’s displaying steady growth. Especially the big ones, like my monstera, philodendron ring of fire, and variegated rubber plant! I’ve … Read more

A Short and Simple Guide to Money Trees

I grew up surrounded by money trees, spotting them not only during my rare trips to big-box nurseries but also in Asian homes and supermarkets. According to feng shui, they’re supposed to be lucky and bring about prosperity. Now, I’m not sure if mine has given me any luck, but it hasn’t died on me … Read more

Weekend Update: 8/15

This weekend passed away like a cloud of smoke. Literally, because I smell smoky air whenever I crack open a window! There are fires just half an hour away from me towards the South Bay. The crunchy air quality (yes, it is crunchy to my lungs), combined with the heat wave and the pandemic and … Read more

A Short and Simple Guide to ZZ Plants

The ZZ plant is nothing to yawn at! Dubbed the “unkillable houseplant,” zamioculcas zamiifolia makes for an agreeable and low-key addition to any plant collection. Its beautiful foliage almost looks plastic, coming with a dark green glossy finish. But despite growing relatively slowly, the ZZ is much more rewarding than a fake plant (in my … Read more

A Short and Simple Guide to Philodendron

Last summer, my grandma visited us from Canada for a few weeks. She had a lot of life hacks and liked to call things easy, except she’d say it like “E-Z.” When I’m tending to my philodendrons, I think of that hard emphasis “E-Z” because philodendrons are incredibly low maintenance houseplants! My philodendrons have survived … Read more

A Short and Simple Guide to Spider Plants

Introduction Don’t ever talk to its son or its son’s son or its son’s son’s son or its son’s son’s son’s son ever again! There’s no other word to describe the spider plant other than prolific. When given adequate water and sunlight, they grow incessantly. Spider plants are those giant tufted mounds of striking leaves that … Read more

A Short and Simple Guide to Dracaena

dracaena

An Introduction to Dracaenas I first got the impulse to buy a dracaena after watching Netflix’s Tuca and Bertie, which features these too-cool-for-school teenage plant heads, one specifically named Draca. Draca is, in my mind, a dracaena, which too is effortlessly cool and trendy. In fact, the last time I checked, I had five dracaenas!  … Read more